Nerf Blast the Offenders

I often use a crosswalk that's poised at the top of our street to get to a shuttle bus. I usually have a bike and my son totes a scooter. This is also a popular route for hospital employees who've parked in a nearby commuter lot. The lane is painted red, edged in white with a 3 foot tall orange can, or more recently a colorful, formal sign in the middle of the asphalt, stating " State law, yield to pedestrians." It can't be more clearly marked.

I use this route with my youngest boy. He still needs lessons in cautious behavior around traffic, so when we are together I point out that even though the speed limit is only 25 m.p.h. you can't count on drivers to automatically stop. One day I'd become particularly frustrated, spouting phrases like "get off your phone!", or blatantly pointing at the legal sign, just waiting for both lanes to halt and allow us safe passage.

My 10-year-old boy is a keen observer of some things though, and comes up with interesting inventions. After a few moments  he said, "Mommy, why not shoot Nerf darts at the cars? It could have a ticket wrapped around it." I laughed. It diffused my anger, not to mention that it sounded like an ingenious idea.

As we headed across the street and began the descent to our house, I quizzed him further. How would this work? "There would be a Nerf gun hidden in the trees. If you wanted to cross the street and cars didn't stop, you could press a button. A ticket would print and be wrapped around a suction dart. Then the gun would fire into the windshield." As a driver, if I caught something like what my son envisioned out of the corner of my eye, it would certainly capture my attention.

Of course this led to an interesting discussion at the dinner table. My eldest son chimed in on how to strategically camouflage the Nerf gun, where it would be positioned, who would stock the darts, how to rapid fire the gun, etc. Jeesh, boys...